Amazon Echo gets multi-room audio

Much like any of the other really cool features you can do with Echo devices powered by Alexa, the multi-room music syncing allows for voice-activated music playback once users have created a group.

The partnership could be especially useful for business users, who will be able to better take advantage of the features of each digital assistant, especially tapping the Office 365 integration and reminders of Cortana via Alexa. That said, Alexa on Windows and Cortana on Echo will become a reality later this year, so expect to be confused once you actually start using them in this weird fashion. On the other hand, a user that wants to order more toothpaste from Amazon on their Surface Laptop will probably want to call on Alexa to access the web store.

Nadella added in the same news release, "Ensuring Cortana is available for our customers everywhere and across any device is a key priority for us".

Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, said: "The world is big and so multifaceted". When this all gets implemented, Echo device owners will be able to access Cortana's features, such as booking a meeting or accessing work calendars.

That's probably not the most seamless method Jeff Bezos and Satya Nadella's tech giants could have come up with to pair their so far rival services, but it may only be the beginning of a handsome (and unexpected) friendship.

Amazon and Microsoft have announced they will collaborate with each other to make their respective digital assistants talk to each other. Conversely, you'll be able to access Cortana on Alexa-enabled devices like the Amazon Echo, Echo Dot and Echo Show.

The new Cortana-Alexa functionality will be available later this year, meanwhile. You can then tell your Echo device "Alexa, play Smash Mouth downstairs" and playback will begin.

Alexa will be able to communicate with Cortana, and vice versa. Right now Amazonsays the new feature is available to Echo device owners in just three countries, which are the USA, the United Kingdom, and Germany, at least for now. Product model S13 is a high-performance all-in-one wireless smart speaker and part of Sonos' home sound system. However, Nedella did say that he'll welcome the companies if they do decode to join Microsoft and Amazon.

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